Sorry, I'm sure this...

Sorry about this question, I'm sure it's asked hundreds of times, however I really took an interest in Dutch and it seems like a beautiful language to me.
So i recently started, can someone help me understand these words?
De, and Het, what is the difference between them? They both mean 'The'.
Also, Ze, is that she/They (girls)?
Jij, Je, the difference between these too?
I know it's "un-emphasized" but what does that mean?

2 years ago

4 Comments

Okay, so, as you've pointed out, 'de' and 'het' both mean 'the'. It's just that some words get 'de' (I've noticed that the majority are 'de' so far) and some get 'het'. The tips and notes in Basics 1 on the Dutch course explain in further detail how to somewhat find rules for the organization.

'Ze/Zij' means both 'she' and 'they'. (Not the female 'they' as it would be in Spanish but just regular neutral 'they') They can be distinguished from each other by the ending of the verb that follows-- 't' for 'she' and 'en' for 'they'

When a sentence has 'Je' in it, it means that 'you' should not be drawing the most attention- it is not the important part if the sentence, so to say. Like in the sentence 'You mean the house isn't really spotted?' the house is getting the most attention. You would use 'je' to show that.

You explained je PERFECTLY, thank you so much :D
But, for example, you're hungry, do you say je or jij?
Also, is zij like Sie and sie in German? like sie trink wasser, or sie trinken wasser?
Also, is wij, we, the same with jij and je?